Gareth Bale

[baitman]

it should say 'show me the monkey'

[MrMichael]

Something just doesn't add up.

1) Why the **** would Real Madrid want to pay £86 million for Gareth Bale??? Eighty six million? It's complete and utter madness. And I'm not in the camp of people who thinks he's overrated. I could easily see Bale going for a fee of around £40 or £45 million. But £86 million? Doesn't make any sense. Makes me wonder if there's else going on besides an irrational desire to add a certain player to your squad. Makes no sense.

Neymar. They're desperately worried he'll live up to his hype, especially with the next WC in Brazil coming etc, and people will start treating Barca like they have Maradonna AND Pele at the same time. Messi and Neymar in the same team could be a marketing wet dream. Their only chance is to put someone with Ronaldo to counter it. If it comes off, Bale and Ronaldo in the same team would be quite something, in a different way to Messi/Neymar true, but almost or equally as effective and startling to watch.

I'm not sure they're right about all that, but I do think that is a big part of being prepared to pay so much right now.

2) If the £86 million figure is correct, why would Levy turn them down? Absolutely stupid. Is he thick? Is he crazy? What is wrong with him??? They could reinvest that quality and get two or three players good or better than Bale. Madness. Maybe he's worried they can't attract better players because they're out of the Champions League? That's the only thing I can think of. And even still, it's baffling why he would be so stubborn.

He'll sell. Surely in the end, for that money, he'll wake up on the 30th of next month shouting "SELL!!!".

[-V-]

Levy is just playing hardball to get the best price. He's known for months that Madrid wud go for him

[Mike]

If i was Bale I'd definitely pack up and go to Madrid. Better lifestyle, bigger team, he'll increase his own marketability etc.

Heard Pleat say Bale is too young to go and play abroad - ridiculous.

[Bender]

Spurs have told Real Madrid that Gareth Bale can only leave the club this summer for €145m [£125m]. (Source: Marca)

[Shaggy]

[Sarb]

Madrid have put themselves in a very difficult position though. Will be hugely embarassing for them if they don't sign him now. Been a public pursuit. Levy is going to get some serious money for Bale....it's obvious

[Kenneth]

My translate app gives the headline as "a mad thing".

[red g]

Southampton will be gutted if he goes to Real Madrid , They exchanged there 25% sell on clause for 3m a couple of years ago.

[fah-q]

Sexo es Vida, eh?

[fah-q]

Southampton will be gutted if he goes to Real Madrid , They exchanged there 25% sell on clause for 3m a couple of years ago.

I'd forgotten that, they did the same with Walcott too I think (that shouldn't bother them too much).

Wow, that's a ton of money to miss out on.

[Sarb]

I think Southampton will still be able to make a claim due to the age, development thing that came in recently. Read something yesterday

[Exiled_red]

Southampton will be gutted if he goes to Real Madrid , They exchanged there 25% sell on clause for 3m a couple of years ago.

[Trippendicular]

http://as.com/diarioas/2013/07/29/en...59_237225.html
________________________________________

Former Liverpool and Real Madrid striker Michael Owen has drawn on his own experiences to offer Gareth Bale advice as to what life in Spain might be like should he move to the Bernabéu this summer. In declarations made to BBC 5, and picked up by the Daily Mail, Owen confessed that his own time in Spain left him disappointed.

“From a football point of view, I think Bale would do particularly well. But I think for any player going from these shores to Spain, it is a lot different to how you first imagine it,” Owen said.

Owen, who signed for Real Madrid in 2004 but only spent one season at the Bernabéu, complained that his time in the capital was a living nightmare.

“Off the pitch, it’s very difficult. The Spanish culture is a very easy way of life; there’s a slow pace to it. When you get over there, you want to move into a house and get settled, get your wife happy, your kids happy and your family and everyone else happy, and you’re trying to change as well, but unfortunately you’re stuck in a hotel for five months.

“The legal system and all these things to buy a house are so slow. We wanted to do it as quick as we could, but I was in a hotel for five months with a young child,” he continued.

He expanded on his Madrid experience in his autobiography, ‘Michael Owen: Off the Record’, saying: “It was murder. For three and a half months, Louise, Gemma and I were in a businessmen’s hotel in a quiet area where there were no parks for our daughter to run around. I felt awful leaving for work at 10 every morning. Coming back at 1pm, I’d often find them bored to tears. So we went out and about in Madrid, locating the parks and all the landmarks. Even then, it would be lights out for Gemma by 7.30pm, and Louise and I would tip-toe round in the pitch black. In the darker moments, I missed my family, my house, my old team mates, the golfing, my dogs, the whole English package, even the rain.

‘Right from the start of the 2004-05 campaign, when I arrived at the world’s most famous club, I knew inside that I wanted to come home after one season. That feeling only intensified the longer I was in Spain.”

[Sarb]

Grass isn't always greener, Michael